Samsung’s foldable phone prototype finally unveiled

We’ve been hearing about the fabled Samsung foldable phone for a longtimenow with reports even suggesting the S10 may be it. At Samsung’s Developer Conference, yes they do one as well without all the hype, developers were previewed one vision of the future of the smartphone: a device with a narrow “cover display” that unfolds into a tablet-like screen thanks to a flexible display. It’s finally here folks!

Samsung’s foldable phone is real

It’s no secret the smartphone industry’s proximity to market saturation. Users are rarely upgrading phones annually while manufacturers are retaining their annual flagship launches, and there’s a lot of them. In order to battle this, manufacturers are trying everything to be innovative and creep their market share up. Since a foldable device like this changes the game completely, Samsung had to preview the prototype before an official launch because developers need to start working on adapting their apps for this. Even Google has to work an Android adaption. Note: Google has already pledged support to Samsung’s approach.

Samsung is claiming the device will be ready to ship as soon as “early next year”. It means it could possibly be the S10 or a new variation of Samsung’s flagships entirely. Samsung is far from the first player in foldable phone screen. China’s ZTE has its Axon M, however, it lacks a flexible screen so the phone has a border in the middle of its display when unfolded. Not ideal. LG has been teasing foldable screen phones for years as well. Safe to say all the major players will start coming out of the woodwork to battle Samsung.

Samsung’s Developer Conference extras

Samsung’s Developer Conference wasn’t only about its foldable phone. It introduced tools to let developers bring their own apps and services to Bixby, Samsung’s voice assistant and AI platform. It also unveiled a new “One UI” interface designed to make it easier to handle commonly performed smartphone tasks. One UI will be made broadly available for Samsung’s latest flagship phones next year as well as Galaxy S9 and S9+ users in beta in November.

We’ll be hot on Samsung’s heels with every news related to its foldable phone and when we can get our hands on it.